During the first semesters of graduate study, students will choose a research advisor, work as a teaching assistant and take courses. We offer majors in the four traditional areas of analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry. In addition, we offer a customized "chemistry" major in which the course sequence is designed by the student and the advisor and a degree in Chemical Education.
We have a cumulative exam system that begins in the first year and our students advance to Ph.D. candidacy through a preliminary oral exam taken no later than the fifth semester. Research begins as early as the second semester and students have usually finished their coursework by the fourth semester.
The Ph.D. program requires:
All new students will take a series of diagnostic exams, one in each of the major disciplines. The results of these exams help to identify student's academic preparedness and choose the appropriate coursework to complete the Ph.D.
All International graduate students will take an English Placement Test. This test is for non-native English speakers who DO NOT have a prior Bachelor's, Master's or Ph.D. degree from a U.S. college or university. More information is available here: http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/about/englishexam.html
All International graduate students will also take a Speak/Teach Test. The purpose of these oral proficiency tests for new international teaching assistants (ITAs) is to find out how effectively they can communicate in English. See the programs web page for more information: http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/speakteach/
All new students are required to take Chem 579, Introduction to Research in Chemistry in the fall and Chem 550, Safety in the Chemical Laboratory, in the spring of their first year.
The core courses for each major are listed below:
Analytical |
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| Chem 511 | Advanced Quantitative Analysis | 3 credits |
| Chem 513 | Analytical Molecular and Anatomic Spectroscopy | 3 credits |
| Chem 516 | Analytical Separations | 3 credits |
| Chem 611 | Seminar | 1 credit each semester |
Inorganic |
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| Chem 502 | Advanced Inorganic Chemistry | 3 credits |
| Chem 505 | Physical Inorganic Chemistry | 3 credits |
| Chem 600 | Seminar | 1 credit each time taken for 3 credits total |
| Chem 601 | Selected Topics in Inorganic Chemistry | 1-2 credits |
| Other inorganic chemistry courses | ≥ 4 credits | |
Four additional credits from the following courses: |
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| Chem 503 | Bioinorganic Chemistry | 2 credits |
| Chem 571 | Solid State Chemistry | 2 credits |
| Chem 574 | Organometallic Chemistry of the Transition Metals | 2 credits |
| Chem 578 | Chemical Kinetics and Mechanisms | 2 credits |
Organic |
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| Chem 531 | Organic Synthesis I | 2 credits |
| Chem 532 | Organic Synthesis II | 2 credits |
| Chem 537 | Physical Organic Chemistry I | 3 credits |
| Chem 538 | Physical Organic Chemistry II | 3 credits |
| Chem 572 | Spectrometric Identification of Organic Compounds | 3 credits with a B or better |
| Chem 631 | Seminar in Organic Chemistry | 1 credit each semester |
| Chem 632 | Selected Topics in Organic Chemistry | 2 credits, 2 for audit |
Physical |
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| Chem 561 or *Phys 591 | Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics or Quantum Physics | 4 credits |
| Chem 562 or 564 or *Phys 592 | Fundamentals of Atomic and Molecular Quantum Mechanics or Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure or Quantum Physics II | 3 credits/4 credits |
| Chem 563 or *Phys 531 | Statistical Mechanics | 2 credits |
| Chem 583 | Chemical Group Theory | 1 credits |
| Chem 660 | Seminar in Physical Chemistry | 1 credit each semester |
Chemical Education |
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| Courses outlined for one of the above listed programs | 12 credits | |
| Statistics 401 | Statistical Methods for Research Workers | 3 credits |
| Statistics 402 | Statistical Design and the Analysis of Experiments | 3 credits |
| Curriculum 533 | Educational Psychology of Learning Cognition and Motivation | 3 credits |
| Curriculum 615 | Seminar | 2 credits, taken twice |
| Chem 599 | Non-thesis research credit | 1-3 credits each semester |
There are no core course requirements for the Chemistry major. The courses are decided upon by the student and the committee.
Students may elect to take a minimum of 10 credits of courses in the following areas:
Teaching is an important component of the student's professional training as it helps the student to review their knowledge of basic chemistry and also allows them to pass this knowledge along to others. Each student is required to teach half-time (approximately 20 hours laboratory or recitation instruction, preparation, grading, etc.) for at least one semester.
Assistantships
The Department of Chemistry recognizes the need for adequate financial support during the period of graduate study and offers competitive stipends to all admitted students. Financial aid for first year students is normally available for 12 months; a 9 month teaching assistantships and 3 month research assistantship. Beyond the first year, continued support is provided through the major professor's group in the form of research assistantships. Support will continue as long as the student remains in good standing in both academics (3.0 GPA) and in research.
Tuition waiver
All students in good standing receive a tuition waiver for all semesters in which they are enrolled.
Health insurance The cost of health insurance for the student is covered. Coverage for additional family members is available for an additional cost. Dental coverage may also be purchased. See the Students and Scholars Health Insurance Program web page for complete information. ( http://www.hrs.iastate.edu/sship/homepage.html)
The interdisciplinary nature of Chemistry allows our students the opportunity to work within several unique facilities on the Iowa State campus.
Gilman Hall
Home to the Department of Chemistry. Gilman Hall houses the bulk of the teaching and research facilities for the department. Additional research and office space is housed in Spedding and Wilhelm Halls.
Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy
Ames Laboratory began as part of the Manhattan Project. The project developed an entirely new technology for the conversion of uranium ore to high-purity uranium metal and then used that technology to produce more than 2 million pounds of uranium by the end of World War II. Today, Ames Lab provides a unique collaborative opportunity for researchers, particularly in the general areas of materials, catalysis, environmental management and computational science. See their web page for more information: http://www.external.ameslab.gov/
Carver Co-Lab
This lab is dedicated to plant genomics, with the goal of conducting the basic biological investigations needed to help others improve crops. Current research in the lab includes several maize and rice genome projects, including the high-throughput discovery and mapping of maize genes, and microarrays. See their web page for more information: http://schnablelab.plantgenomics.iastate.edu/
Plant Sciences Institute
The Plant Sciences Institute is an umbrella organization over a group of centers, each focused on specific areas of the plant sciences. The research initiatives undertaken within the Institute include Genomics, biopharmaceuticals, nutrition, biorenewables, and crop protection. More than 225 faculty members from across the University are affiliated with PSI. See their web page for more information: http://www.plantsciences.iastate.edu
Iowa State is home to more than 26,000 students from all 50 states and 110 countries. The Department of Chemistry currently has approximately 190 students in various stages of the degree program. Our students represent the US, Canada, China, Taiwan, India, Korea, Poland, Turkey, Jordan, Romania, Serbia, Yugoslavia, Russia, the Philippines, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
Here is a sampling of where our Ph.D. students have been employed:
| 2012 | Cetero Research |
| 2012 | Energy Biosciences Institute |
| 2012 | UC Santa Barbara |
| 2011 | Exxon Mobil |
| 2011 | SUNY Stonybrook |
| 2011 | Shell Global Solutions |
| 2011 | Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research |
| 2010 | Penn State University |
| 2010 | Clemson University |
| 2010 | The Scripps Research Institute |
| 2009 | SLAC National Accelerator Lab |
| 2009 | University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| 2009 | Schering-Plough |
| 2009 | University of Delaware |
| 2008 | Rutgers |
| 2008 | Kenyata University |
| 2008 | Lexicon Pharmaceuticals |
| 2007 | Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT |
| 2007 | Conoco Phillips |
| 2007 | University of Arizona |
| 2006 | Catalin, Inc. |
| 2006 | Northwestern |
| 2006 | University of Minnesota |
| 2005 | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| 2005 | Elemental Scientific |
| 2005 | The Ohio State University |
| 2004 | Australian National Lab |
| 2004 | Pfizer |
| 2004 | Boston University |
| 2004 | Scripps Research Institute |
| 2003 | FBI |
| 2003 | Yale University |
| 2003 | GE-Global Research and Development |
| 2003 | Cal Tech |
| 2002 | Penn State University |
| 2002 | Aquinas College |
| 2002 | MIT |
| 2002 | Eastern Illinois University |
| 2001 | University of California, Berkeley |
| 2001 | Archer Daniels Midland |
| 2001 | Harvard University |
| 2001 | Waters Corporation |
| 2000 | Omni Care Clinical Research |
| 2000 | Dionex Corporation |
| 2000 | Southwestern Oklahoma State University |
| 2000 | University of Basel |
Other questions? Feel free to contact our Graduate Admissions office at 800-521-2436 or send us an email at
1605 Gilman Hall, Ames, Iowa 50011-3111, 1-800-521-CHEM, rmharris [at] iastate [dot] edu
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